Storybook Art!

This week we learned from the master story tellers! We read some of the very best children's books (including Caldecott Medal winners), then we created artwork based on how the books were illustrated.

The first books were Harry the Dirty Dog and No Roses for Harry! These were two of my own children's very favorite books.


We made stand-up Harry dogs - clean on one side and dirty on the other using colored pencil, Sharpies, crayons, and watercolor. Also a great exercise in mastering the scissors! Then, we made him a colorful wardrobe of sweaters.




Next we read a few Eric Carle books, and we illustrated Mister Seahorse, which is a collage of painted paper and lots of glitter, of course!




We also made a color-changing chameleon!






On the third day, our focus was on 'naughtiness.' What happens when Max is sent to his room for being too wild? He joins up with the wild things. Until he gets homesick and leaves the wild things... just in time for dinner.

Then we created our own wild things.

We also read about David, based on the author's own life as a mischievous little boy. On this day, David was a very naughty boy. His mother said NO many times. Finally he had to sit in the corner. The children could really relate to this story and told us their own sordid tales of naughtiness as we read through the book.

We then made our own 'David' out of cut construction paper and glue - along with a talking bubble in which David says something nice.

Finally, we read the Rainbow Fish
and made a Rainbow Fish of our own. We painted him with watercolor, then added lots and lots of sparkly glitter!

(You can also see some of our color-changing chameleons in these pictures.)